Marvin Tabangay | Running Without Music

Griffith Park Grand Prix

02-04-2012

This morning we were back at Griffith Park, where we were to do the infamous “Grand Prix”, which meant a triple mini-brick. What? Yes, a bike-run 3x. Loops on the bike, out and backs on the run. In between bike rides, the staffers who stayed back had to deflate tires for participants and staff, for all to force-learn how to change their tires. Even worse, they were back-flats, the more tedious of the two because of the chain and drivetrain.

My Garmin wasn’t cooperating with me so I don’t know my exact stats, but for the first 2 bike loops we had to climb a pretty considerable hill twice, then on the last loop we were to do that same hill three times. On one of the descents of the first hill, a crazy driver decided to make a U-turn on a rather narrow road near a blind curve and almost had a teammate crash into her! Some people! My teammate Tushar had to act quickly, brake, was fishtailing, but luckily he avoided what would’ve been a nasty crash! The final loop with the 3 hill repeats were tough, but was manageable. It looked like everyone finished strong, and it’s inspiring to see everyone on the team keep working at it!

Getting Back to Business

By: Marvin Tabangay

02-03-2012

swim

The past 7 days have been pretty tough on my schedule, and have made a big dent on my training. I know a week still isn’t so bad being out of the game, but I missed last Saturday’s last build ride against some monster headwinds, and even though I ran on Sunday, I did NOTHING until today, which was a scheduled swim. I pulled a 60 hour workweek in 4 days, so the company gave some of us Friday off. I took the whole day to recover from the madness, slept in a little, cleaned house, ate some delicious pancakes in Hollywood, and relaxed the rest of the day. It was magical.

LEVEL Run Club @ Monterey

By: Marvin Tabangay

01-30-2012

run

Last weekend, our company, LEVEL Studios flew the company to Monterey, CA for our annual Kickoff Party. We usually don’t do a holiday party in December because it gets pretty busy for everyone with the holidays, so January gives us a fresh start on a high note. Because of this weekend trip, it threw my training somewhat out of the window. I missed a Build 2 phase brick Saturday, which would have been a 40 mile ride, with run after. I think I danced 4 hours at the company party at night, so that counts towards my workout, right?

The Build

By: Marvin Tabangay

01-23-2012

bike, run, swim

Base training is over, and the build period has begun. From now on, we have 2 build weeks, followed by a recovery week for our bodies to recover. This past weekend was a pretty big one, as it was a test of endurance balancing work, social life and IronTEAM life.

Friday
Coming off a pretty busy work schedule, we had our usual Friday Happy Hour at the office. I had to resist the drinks a little because I planned to go to Equinox after work to do my swimset, which was:

1 x 500 Any Stroke – Warmup
6 x 50 @ 1/2 Interval, rest :30
1 x 400 Easy, rest :30
10 x 100 Start @ 1:45 (it was more like 2:00 for me), rest :30
1 x 400 Easy, rest :30
3 x 200, start at 4:00, rest :30
1 x 200 Cooldown, long & lean

3,400 yards! whew! That was a long Friday night! The night wasn’t over, immediately after I went to my friend Jesyka’s birthday masquerade party in Santa Monica. I had to hold back though and be sober in prep for a long weekend. I also went home at midnight, right before my carriage turned back into a pumpkin.

Saturday

Saturday was supposed to be our first big brick in Westlake. I was pretty excited the night before, but the morning of, we were faced with some pretty hard rain on the way to practice. Coach said it didn’t rain enough to wash away all the oil slick on the roads, so safety first, the brick was postponed, and we ran 8 miles instead. At first it was rainy and cold, but it eventually got warm. I dunno what it is, but I always seem to have bad runs in Westlake, and it was no different – yes, I struggled. What gives? The other week, I was out partying all day/night, and had the best run of the season. Last night I had the perfect amount of sleep, no alcohol, ate healthy food… but the run was rough! You never know sometimes! We did loops around West Lake, so the first loop was challenging, but I was into the groove the second time around. Looked like everyone had a great run though, and after, we (Iron + Tri teams) had post-run eats at The Counter Burger down the street. Since we were the first guests, we took over the whole restaurant:

Year 2 – 1,000 Yards

By: Marvin Tabangay

01-18-2012

swim

Last year, I didn’t hit 1,000 yards until mid-February. Around this time, the team had their 1k marker set, but I was still in my “special” lane still learning how to swim. If I remember correctly, I was still using the paddle board. I was still taking private lessons at UCLA, learning how to breath, learning how to FLOAT. I was “at risk” of not completing the swim portion of our triathlons. Coaches were baffled and worried, but were always there to help. Just a few months after, I completed my first triathlon, then a half Ironman, then a full Ironman. Milestones for sure in swim, but milestones overall. I love the challenge.

So yesterday, at our Tuesday coached swim, we had to do a 1,000 yard, “physical recommitment” to see where we’re at. I was already so excited to do this because I’m actually DOING the sets this time around! We started off with a 200 yard warmup, or keep going until we hit the 7:45pm mark to start the timers. Coach Jason was keeping track of our lane, the Intermediate lane. They kept track of the laps, which was such a HUGE help because I didn’t have to worry about anything else but SWIM. During the swim, I had a lot of the drills in my head, to pay attention to my technique, and also I could hear all the coaches voices on correcting my form. Jason would yell out how many yards left, and once I heard him say “300 left!” a huge rush came over me and was feeling strong and ready to finish the swim! Final 1k time: 23:58!!!!!!!! What?!?! I was expecting over 30 minutes! Whew! Oh but wait! The set wasn’t over. We had to do timed 100s. At first it was supposed to be 2:15 but he changed it to 2:30. If I came in before that, then that’s the rest interval. Not sure how many I did, but I always ended up doing 2:15 so I still had time to rest. This session was awesome! Felt great the whole time, muscles didn’t feel very fatigued, but mainly just out of breath. This was a game-changer for me, as I’m actually VERY excited to step it up in the swim this year!

Boot & Rally

By: Marvin Tabangay

01-16-2012

run

So Saturday was a huge day, woke up early then a 2.5 hour practice, took down the course IronTEAM signs, then immediately rush home to get ready for my bar crawl fundraiser MAN v BAR 7. The fundraiser lasted from 2pm-9pm officially, but stayed a few more hours until midnight. That’s 10 hours of drinking! Ok ok, my nutrition plan is waaaaay off here, but it was considered a miracle if I even showed up to the early Sunday run practice!

The route? Met at Ocean and San Vicente, run up San Vicente, Brentwood Golf Course loop and back, then an out and back towards the Santa Monica Pier if time permits. Yes, so many surprised faces when I showed up… but also surprised at other people that were at MAN v BAR too. So we did a warmup to 4th St up San Vicente, then back to stretch. The goal was to do a 7 mile minimum in 80 minutes for Intermediate, or 90 minutes for advanced. Started off thinking I’ll do the intermediate set, because in no way I consider myself advanced, but a funny thing happened to me halfway through the run – I actually felt great! Runner’s high? Maybe. It was also downhill for the second half. Not going to complain! I ended up continuing the run towards the Pier, and once it hit my turnaround for the 80, I figured, what’s 10 minutes more? I ran to the Pier, and by the time I came back, it was around 90 minutes for 10 miles! Much faster and further than I originally planned! Maybe I should do a 10 hour drinking binge before a timed run like this more! (Just kidding, coaches!)

Griffith Park Time Trial

By: Marvin Tabangay

01-16-2012

bike

Saturday was a pretty busy day for me in terms of training & fundraising. In the morning, the team headed to Griffith Park, met at Lot C of the LA Zoo bright and early 7:30am. Immediately after was our semi-annual pub crawl fundraiser, MANvBAR7 (I’ll blog about that one later).

So for the bike ride, as you can see above, I was greeted by a nice sunrise to start my morning. A lovely sight as simple as that is a sign for a wonderful day ahead! By the time I got to the parking lot, it seemed like the weather dropped 10 degrees from West LA to Griffith Park! COLD! Most of us stayed inside our cars for warmth until more people popped up. The morning’s Mission Moment was led by our South Bay Training Captain, “El Capitan”, Scott, who told us his connection with TNT and why he joined. I’ve known Scott since last season, but didn’t know his story until now. It was both motivational & inspirational. He really captured the moments when training was tough, and digging deep to get through the challenges with a matter of perspective shifts. It was a nice reminder why we fight, why we do this.

The bike ride was split into two groups, A-M and M-Z, to break up the large group we have. The course was very similar to our GP Ride a few weeks ago, but with the addition of the large hill in the middle of it. It was 2 loops of 12.5, and our timed marker set had a requirement of 25 mile minimum in 2 hours. If we finish the 25 miles, then we have to keep moving (do an out and back) until we reach 25 miles. The hill was challenging, but luckily it wasn’t that long. I’m still pretty paranoid of the downhills, so I proceeded with caution in the curvy descent. In the end, I logged about 33 miles for 2 hours.

Southbay Sunset Run

By: Marvin Tabangay

01-10-2012

run

Ain’t gonna lie, what brought me out to do the run last Sunday in the South Bay (17 miles away) instead of Santa Monica (3 miles away) was because of the post-run food – tacos! A later start time was a treat too because I could sleep in plus I had some family stuff in the morning carrying over to lunch anyway. I was running a little late, so I thought I’ll be running this alone until taco time, but luckily, they were still waiting for the whole gang to arrive.

The course was south on The Strand until “The Wall” in Redondo Beach. From there, we headed east on that main road, slightly uphill, until the start of the Wood Chip Trail. The Wood Chips are nice and flat with a soft ground. We took it all the way to Manhattan Beach Blvd and headed back to the beach.

It was a lovely recovery downhill to The Stand, and from there we headed back to Hermosa Beach. The timing near the end of the run and the sunset was nearly perfect. It might of been the plan the whole time from our El Capitan Scott, but it was a nice surprise to all of us! We ran to the end of the Pier to catch the sunset. Check it out… so beautiful!

Then, when you turn around, there it was a full moon rising along the same horizon. What timing! We we all in awe. We took several photos, Twitter & Facebook updates as usual. We took in this beautiful sight, so amazed that it’s only January too!

This… is… life. Also, check out the view with the fisherman below. I hope to one day grow old and just chill like that, looking back and how beautiful life is and the memories we had.

Unfortunately, the run wasn’t over, so we finished it with another out and back to the Redondo Beach Wall. Oh yeah, almost forgot about some sexy sax (not Careless Whisper, but close) soundtrack for a bit of the run. The whole time we were still amazed at what we had witnessed, a true runner’s high, completely unrelated to the actual “run” itself. The fun didn’t stop when we got back to Hermosa Pier. We continued at Hot’s Kitchen a few blocks away to try some of their delicious tacos, over 50 varieties to choose from! Oh you know we devoured those tacos with a quickness!

PCH Redemption

By: Marvin Tabangay

01-07-2012

bike

Even though last week’s ride was rough because of NYE, I was still able to make that first step to get out of the house and actually do it. Don’t get me wrong, last week’s ride was an absolute best way to start off the year, especially in great company.

Last night, I avoided all chances of a Friday night out with alcohol. Hungover riding? Never again! I laid low after our Friday night swim at my friend’s place in Playa Vista. This morning the Team met at Zuma beach, and tackled the more challenging parts of PCH. I had a good amount of sleep, had breakfast, it was definitely night & day how I was feeling today versus last week!

The team was split into beginner/intermediate and advanced riding groups. You can choose to your liking, but majority chose the beg/int to be on the safe side. The difference between the two were longer PCH loops and larger hills. I chose the advanced because PCH, like what I said last week, was our old stomping ground so nothing new here. What’s new is that it’s been since July since I’ve seen these hills, so yes, they were not as “easy” as I thought they were at the peak of my last season. After the beg/int group started their warmup, El Capitan Scott led the rest further south on PCH, with the large hill to start. I pulled my friend Rommel along to the advanced group because I knew he was fully capable of it, plus he’s a very eager one to get some really good riding in. Oh man, did I miss these hills! Climbing them sure wasn’t fun, but it actually felt great to tackle them! Total ride time – 2 hours. Total mileage, 34.

Oh, but we weren’t done at that point. We had a mini-brick scheduled, so it was another 20 minutes of running immediately after the bike. Wow, I forgot that feeling! My legs were heavy, but the weird thing that happens to me all the time for the first few minutes is that my pace drops a few minutes, and this time it was around a 7:30/min mile! What the! It eventually stabilized to my normal 9:15-9:30, then 10, then 11… yes, I was that tired. I gotta get used to all this again! Overall, a really great practice!

Birthday Swim

By: Marvin Tabangay

01-04-2012

swim

Monday was the last day of the long New Year holiday weekend, so yesterday, it was back to work I go on my birthday. Luckily, it wasn’t too busy at work, and everyone were slowly getting back into the grind. It was relaxing actually. During lunch, had lunch with coworkers at La Sirena Grille in El Segundo. Even one coworker thought I was 25. Sweet! I’ll take that. At night, I got to spend the rest of my birthday with my closest friends… in the pool. I really needed that dip in the pool, which turned out to be very refreshing. I was actually “feeling” some improvement in my technique, with Coach Catherine from the Tri team was instructing our lane. I really like how she explains the drills and why it’s helpful. She told me things I wasn’t aware of (or keep forgetting about), especially my left hand opening during my pull, and my early hand exit after the pool. It was great too because everyone in our lane was about the same exact pace. I really enjoyed the fingertip and catch up drills because it slowed my stroke down to really focus on my technique, because I tend to rush things and not use the glide to my advantage. Overall, it was a productive swim. I think we swam a little over a mile, and I’m feeling my swim fitness level slowly getting back to what it used to be ear the end of last season!

Post-swim activities included heading to City Tavern in Culver City where the beer taps were AT the booths. Dangerous! Their Brew Burger, which was on a pretzel bun, and beef & chorizo patty was delish! Got to know a few more teammates there, then we continued the night at Bigfoot West not too far away.

As far as feeling older. I actually feel better than I have ever before in my life! Mentally and physically. I think it’s because I’m surrounded by fabulous people who continue to inspire me day in and day out. We really have to live life to its fullest!

“Today is the oldest you’ve ever been and the youngest you’ll ever be again”

— Running Without Music

Griffith Park Grand Prix

Getting Back to Business

LEVEL Run Club @ Monterey

The Build

Year 2 – 1,000 Yards

Boot & Rally

Griffith Park Time Trial

Southbay Sunset Run

PCH Redemption

Birthday Swim

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